Category: History

I'd like to present the story of what God is doing in history with a slightly different angle than you may have heard before.
Phase 1 - The Return.
Jesus did not simply go to heaven when he died. He could have just been up there just sitting with God the Father but he did more -- He returned to earth in a resurrected body. It was in this resurrected body that he gave the disciples the great commission, saying that "all authority" had been given to him and they were "disciple all the Read more [...]

In the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar is given a dream of a giant statue. It has a head of gold, a chest of silver, a core of bronze, and feet of iron mixed with clay. Daniel interprets this dream as four great empires which were coming to rule over the earth.
Gold -- The Babylonians
Silver -- The Persians
Bronze -- Alexander and the Greeks
Iron and Clay -- The Romans
All of this happened exactly as Daniel prophesied. The last event, however Read more [...]

Every culture must have a history to support it, or it is unsustainable. This is the great American, and even pan-Western problem of the moment. We no longer believe in a history which supports who we are. Is this because we are bad, or is it because we are starting with the wrong end point and writing out the truth? This means we are destined to become something else. We are unsustainable. Contemporary American historians are obsessed with our sins. Across the West historians are obsessed with Read more [...]

History is one of the most important disciplines. It is important because our memory of what happened directly informs our viewpoint of what should happen. Everyone has a particular understanding of past based on what they have experienced and what they have learned, even if it is not well developed. If our understanding of what happened and why it happened is incorrect, our understanding of what we should be doing now will also be incorrect.
History, then, is a convenient place for historians to Read more [...]

I think our first priority as Christians is the salvation of souls. I believe that's God's first priority. It's the reason He sent his Son. My view of political and international relations flows backwards from that. Fortunately we have 2000 years of history (after Christ) to reflect on to help examine the fruit of different beliefs and approaches. I like to examine my ideas through that filter as well.
First, we know that that without Christ the world was lost. This includes everyone except believing Read more [...]

A little understood but very important chapter in American Church history is the Jesus Movement. Just as the hippie movement, which the devil staged to undermine American culture was peaking, God started a surprise -- he swept tens of thousands of hippies into the Kingdom of God. A young hippie named Lonnie Frisbee was crying out to God in the desert looking for reality, and God showed up. Although God used many people in many ways during the Jesus People, Lonnie Frisbee was the Pentecostal spark. Read more [...]

It's very difficult for most of us to understand the church context we exist in because we live in a time where boundaries have been blurred. However, our past tells us a lot about who we are and should be, so it's important that we understand it. This is made more difficult by the fact that, if they do understand it, few Charismatics want to talk about the history that made them who they are because of some excesses that have cropped up. So you have to go on a treasure hunt. After nearly a decade Read more [...]

In 1994, God did something special at the Toronto Airport Vineyard. Likewise, in 1996, God showed up at the Brownsville Assembly of God. Although a lot of what you will find on the internet is purely against Toronto, and some are uncritical proponents, I think we should have a more measured approach.
I believe that part of how we measure a revival is through retrospective review of it's impact. The real criticisms of these movements seem to center around the "manifestations" which occurred. These Read more [...]

1906 - Azusa Street -- Started the Pentecostal Movement. Speads like wildfire around America and around the world for decades to come.
1950s - Healing Revival -- Brought Divine healing to America.
1950s - The Latter Rain -- Contemporary to the Healing Revival. Eventually reshaped the vision of church.
1960s - The Charismatic Movement -- The Holy Spirit invades the traditional church.
1970s - The Jesus Movement -- Massive numbers of hippies get saved in Pentecostal revival as the hippie Read more [...]

One's epistemology, or method of ascertaining the truth, is the foundation stone of all understanding. Not only is our epistemology the foundation of our own personal understanding, it is the foundation of culture. Culture, in turn, is decisive force in human history. It is through culture that the Christ is either corporately resisted or corporately welcomed, and it is therefore culture to which God's hand of divine government ultimately responds. If history turns on our corporate method of obtaining Read more [...]